The Eyes Have It
A story of Infopunk Earth by Maximara Ayanokoji Pai woke up to find a staff topped with a three eyed dragon next to her bed. Picking it up she noticed that there was a seam between the head and the shaft. As the staff felt too light she removed the top to find out what was inside. Next thing she knew there was this harpy like creature looking at her cocking its head. "What...what are you?" The creature chirped at her. "I am Takuhi, mistress." 'Ok things have been weird of late and people have been visited by things that only existed in fiction and myth. But why me and why this?' "Takuhi? I never heard of a harpy being named that." Takuhi chirped again. "What is a harpy?" "It's what you look like. A bird with the head of a woman." Pai got up and started getting dressed. "Look I don't have time for this piece of weirdness. I've got to get to school." "Time? You have all of time, mistress. After all you are immortal." Pai looked at Takuhi. "I'm what?" "Immortal. At least until you obtain the Ningen no Zou." "The what?" "The item you have been looking for 300 years to change you from Sanjiyan Unkara to human." "Look, I don't know who you think I am but I am not your mistress and I am certainly not 300 years old. Just ask my grandparents." "Actually you are far older than that, mistress." "I'd love to debate this with you but I need to get going so I don't miss my bus." "Bus? You don't need a bus for transportation, mistress. You have me and Fei-Oh." "Fei-Oh?" asked Pai. A creature appeared before her. It looked like a giant tadpole with its eye in its mouth. Pai took a step back. "This has officially gone into totally nuts land. I don't know who you two think I am but I am not her." Pai said grabbing her backpack and leaving her room. Several minutes later on the bus. "Hey, Pai what is with the weird staff?" "Don't know. Woke up with it next to my bed and my life promptly went weird. As in demons popping up weird." "Demons?" "Yeh. One looked like a variant of a harpy and the other...something that American Lovecraft might have dreamed up." "Any idea why they choose you?" "Not a freaking clue." "Perhaps it was due to that article in that find girls get girls magazine that had your picture in." "Come on what demon reads those?" Later at Pia's homeroom. The teacher frowned as she noted the staff Pai had in her hand. "Ayanokoji-san is there a reason for that accessory?" Pai blinked. "Accessory?" "That staff." Pai frowned as she looked at the staff still in her hand. "I forgot that I was still holding this." "It doesn't mean that you are an Indigo Lantern does it?" "Indigo Lantern? But the lanterns use rings; this is a staff." "The Indigo Lanterns are often depicted with a staff as well as a ring." "Ok. Well no...unless being an Indigo Lantern means you get some demons that think you are someone who is over 300 years old." "Demons?" asked the teacher concerned. "Yes, sensei. The harpy like one kept claiming I was their mistress." "No that doesn't sound like an Indigo Lantern but other than the most general of details I don't really know more then the Americans sent us on them. "Sensei, I don't know why this happened to me of all people. I don't read American comics and only know the most general details of the characters in them. " Pai started getting flustered "I don't even know that this Ningen no Zou that the harpy claimed I had been looking for 300 years even is! Much less what a Sanjiyan Unkara is." The teacher frowned as he looked down at his laptop and typed something into it. He then paled and looked up at Pai. "One of the ways to render that is 三只眼 吽迦羅 or literally three eyes ie a triclops." "But what does..." Pai stopped and looked at her staff again. "Three eyes. My staff has three eyes." "If what I found is correct so do you." "What?!" yelled Pai as she raised her self from her seat her two hands on the desk. She then blinked. "Let you take control? I don't even know who you are! What do you mean you are me? I don't have voices in my head claiming they are me." Pai shuttered her as she bowed her head. "This is my body not yours!" "Ayanokoji-san?" asked the teacher nervously. "I am in control, mortal," hissed the girl as her face came up three eyes looking at the teacher with both contempt and amusement. "Parvati," commented the teacher calmly even though inside he was terrified. "You recognize me?" "You are a manga character." Parvati laughed. "A manga character? You humans are so amusing with your ability to deny the evidence of your very own eyes." "I should clarify. You are the manifestation of a manga character. Perhaps other elements of your 'world' have also manifested but at the end of the day what you 'remember' didn't happen. Search the memories of your 'other half' if you don't believe me. Parvati's smile slowly faded and her three eyes widened in horror. "No." she whispered. "I'm real!" she yelled as her hands went to the side of her head. "NO YOU ARE NOT!" she yelled. "I, Ayanokoji Pai, am real. You are a fiction that for some reason that has taken possession of me." "Ayanokoji Pai is the fiction. A fake life to keep you from seeking the Ningen no Zou." "You saw my memories. There is nothing like that in your world." "I'm real," whimpered the girl. "In one respect, yes you are. Just like the Lanterns, Darth Venger, Speed Racer, Speedsters are 'real'. But the people behind them are more real." The girl lowered her head leaning over her desk her hands resting on its surface breathing heavily. "Parvati-san?" cautiously asked the teacher after a few moments had passed. The girl raised her head and smiled humor and satisfaction in her three eyes. "No. I am Ayanokoji Pai. Parvati is doing the mental equivalent of whimpering on the floor." (Sequel Why Me?) Notes For those unfamiliar with the background Pai Ayanokoji (reversed to follow the Asian tradition of having the family name first) is the name given to the amnesic Sanjiyan Unkara in the manga/very short OVA for which someone has done as GURPS 3x3 Eyes which has more details on that setting. Category:Vignettes Category:Fanwork